Latest / Zone2Speak Podcast / Gear Talk Returns with Aaron Borrill – 3D Saddles, Solar Tech & Gravel Dreams

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Gear Talk Returns with Aaron Borrill – 3D Saddles, Solar Tech & Gravel Dreams · Zone2Speak Podcast

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Now, let's get into the episode.
3:24
Welcome back to Gear Talk. In this second installment of our ZONETOSPEAK Gear Talk series,
3:31
I am thrilled to welcome back cycling journalist and gear expert Aaron Borrell
3:36
for another deep dive into the tech shaping the way we ride.
3:41
This time, we are shifting into second gear with exciting topics,
3:45
from the latest in 3D-printed saddle tech to the rise of wider tires across
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disciplines, road, gravel, mountain bike.
3:54
We will unpack what's hype and what's actually improving performance.
3:58
We will also get into the Garmin 1040 Solar, and Aaron shares his early impressions
4:05
of the ultra-sleek Lab 71 Super X gravel bike. he just got his end on.
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Naturally, we won't resist touching on Cape Epic where tech and terrain collide,
4:17
especially as it relates to tire choice and how mountain bike have evolved over the past decade.
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Let's dive in. Aaron, welcome to Zone to Speak.
4:28
Thanks, Juliana. Always a pleasure
4:30
being on the show and just really excited to talk about some gear,
4:34
answer some questions that our viewers and listeners had and
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just just dive straight in so what i
4:40
like to start with is is something you
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know that most cyclists look to
4:46
to purchase when they first get their bike well it's obviously the
4:49
second thing it's the cycling computer i know
4:52
if 10 years ago a few years ago people using their
4:55
their their smartphone to to track their rides with
4:58
strava etc i i personally believe
5:01
a smartphone is not the way to go despite having
5:04
various quad lock systems etc they're
5:08
quite bulky and quite cumbersome it's really good to to go for a dedicated cycling
5:14
computer and one that i've been testing for a while probably the last year and
5:19
a half i say testing i've already done the review but i'm constantly just experimenting
5:24
with things and i have a lot of things on test at the same time,
5:28
it's the Garmin Edge 1040 Solar.
5:30
And what's really impressive about this particular device, I'll.
5:35
Put that up to the camera just to show it's got
5:38
as the name suggests it's got solar technology within within
5:42
this computer but we'll get into that into into that
5:45
detail a little bit later for starters it's got
5:48
a three and a half inch screen with a 700
5:51
by 282 resolution and it's driven
5:54
by a touchscreen interface like many of
5:57
these cycling computers nowadays have the exterior
6:00
dimensions are just under 60 millimeters
6:04
by 117 by 20 millimeters so
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it's not small but it's not big so if
6:10
i could show i could show that those that are watching on youtube
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the 1040 versus the wahoo
6:16
element ace which we discussed last time it is significantly smaller yeah but
6:21
it's still yeah it's still quite quite a big device and i reckon garmin has
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hit a sweet spot with the screen size because it's not too bulky and cumbersome
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when you've got it fitted onto your handlebar configuration.
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And the screen is big enough so that if you are using navigation or you're monitoring
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certain metrics, they're crystal clear and the screen really, really is good.
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If you flip it over, you'll also notice it's now got this metallic all-metal mount.
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And why this is important is that users of the previous generation 1030 will
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know that this was plastic and some users did experience that failing or breaking
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off and then you can't you can't use it anymore so this is a nice touch no more
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broken mounts which i think is really good that's great,
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getting into the solar tech so if you look closely at this device you'll see there's like there's a,
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dark colored sort of section at the top at the bottom and a faint little section
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on each side It almost looks like a dark red almost. That is the solar panel.
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And they've utilized that space, which wasn't used on the 1030 quite nicely.
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So it hasn't impacted the screen size per se.
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The battery life is the big talking point here and the big feature.
7:40
So it's not huge, but when you compare it to other cycling computers,
7:46
such as the Hammerhead Karoo 2 or Karoo 3, for example, battery life there,
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if you're lucky, 15, 17 hours.
7:55
With this, 45 hours of runtime, which is really good.
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So that's with everything connected and riding in pure sunlight.
8:03
Obviously, the solar panels can help regenerate some of the charge that is lost.
8:08
That can drop to 35 hours if you do a lot of night riding or you're in an area
8:15
or a region, possibly the UK, I don't know. It doesn't really get the sun.
8:21
So it's still a significant amount of battery life. And if you utilize the lowest
8:28
power settings on this, that will crank it up to 180 hours.
8:33
Wow, that's major. It's huge.
8:36
So if you're doing a long endurance event, a 24-hour event, I know in the past
8:41
people would carry power banks and all sorts of things to ensure that the device
8:47
didn't die en route. You don't have to worry about that now.
8:51
Do you have a question? Yeah. So I think, yeah, my question is more on the charging
8:58
because maybe it's a comment, because even if you're not doing long distance,
9:03
you know, there's so many things these days that we have to be charging.
9:07
And it's so nice that you don't have to charge one thing all the time.
9:11
And obviously, if you're an endurance rider like I am, not having to worry about that.
9:17
I use the Wahoo. I'm super happy with it, but it is something that I'm constantly looking,
9:22
where's the battery at do I need to start charging I do carry two power banks
9:26
with me because one might fail,
9:29
you never know and you definitely cannot be without your map so that's really
9:35
cool but do you think it's worth the price tag for the average cyclist.
9:42
Probably not, because if you look further down the family tree,
9:46
you've got the Garmin Edge 540 and 840.
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Those also come with solar power.
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Some of them don't. There's two versions. They're a lot cheaper.
9:56
It depends what kind of riding you're doing.
10:00
And obviously, it also depends on how you prioritize your cycling computer.
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If you want a larger screen, perhaps, you know, you have trouble with your eyes
10:10
or you have contact lenses and you want a bigger screen, etc.
10:14
I personally think it is, yeah, it's a tough one because obviously as a journalist,
10:23
I don't buy these things. It's given me to test.
10:27
It's a lot of money. If you look at it in British pounds, US dollars or euros,
10:32
it's 580 pounds, about 700 US dollars, about 600 euros.
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It's a frightening amount of money if you think about it.
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But what it gives you in return is a reliable device.
10:46
You're going to charge it, if you use it religiously, you're going to be charging
10:51
it probably four or five times a year, if that.
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Even if you're riding indoors and you're training on Zwift or MyWish or whatever,
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and you're in a room that gets decent sunlight in, it's still going to get the solar charge.
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So it's obviously going to come down to your priorities. If you're someone who
11:09
is a weight weenie, doesn't want to have too much weight on their bike,
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and they like having small things, I would probably go for a 540,
11:16
something like that, or even a Garmin, even a Garmin 130, that tiny little one.
11:20
So I guess it depends on your needs, yeah? Yeah.
11:22
I would love one. It's quite an investment, but the solar feature, it's really...
11:29
Tempting and it works it does work it
11:32
is it isn't a gimmick but to throw a bit of a curveball i've got
11:36
this device with me too which is called the the coros dura
11:39
right oh yeah i wonder i've seen
11:42
it i've seen in some posts so this little device
11:45
is a lot cheaper than anything else
11:48
it's about 260 pounds 120 hours
11:52
of claimed battery life sure the
11:55
screen is you'll see the screen is only about it
11:58
takes up probably 65 to 70
12:01
percent of the screen because the top the top
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third is is a solar charging panel okay so
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it's not as big the screen's not as big yeah so you're giving away some of the
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futures there because for me this i mean people are different but for me i need
12:16
something bigger because i have difficulty reading yeah you're using a lot of
12:21
uh losing a lot of the real estate of the screen to this solar panel.
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But it works really well. It's a touchscreen. It's got this little dial on the
12:31
side that you can use as a button to and something to scroll between the features
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and there's another button.
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It's a little counterintuitive to the way the Wahoo and the Garmin work.
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I think that's because as users, we've become
12:45
used to and accustomed to the way those those processes
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work and how those devices work but a really
12:52
good alternative and considering the price
12:55
to 260 pounds it's it's it's
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worth a shot really yeah about half the price yeah and and it comes in at under
13:03
100 grams so this is this is about 98 grams wow it's quite light the for reference
13:11
the 1040 solar is 134 grams and as we discussed last time the Element Ace is 201 grams.
13:18
So it's quite heavy if you compare the two. So, yeah.
13:23
That's that on the computer front, unless you have any other questions.
13:27
No, no. I think that's a thorough review with the comparison of the three of them.
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I think there's something for everyone. It's just a matter of your needs and your budget.
13:39
Yes, I mean, we could go into like a crazy deep dive, but we'll be here for the next hour. Yes.
13:45
I mean, going into the mapping and the navigation and the screen,
13:48
the tech, we can leave that for another time.
13:51
If the viewers and readers want us to, and listeners want us to go into a little
13:55
bit more detail on that we can't possibly do that in a in the coming episodes
13:59
but there's a lot of other cool stuff to talk about and bring it on,
14:04
3d printed saddles how cool is that so i i first got a taste of 3d printed saddles
14:12
when i moved to the uk in 2019 my first assignment was going to eurobike in
14:18
germany and there they Physique launched the, it's a bit of a mouthful,
14:24
the Physique Antares versus Evo 00 Adaptive Saddle.
14:29
It's quite a mouthful, but at the time, and I still think right now,
14:34
it's a beautiful saddle.
14:37
It's intriguing, it's superbly light, and it's definitely a talking piece.
14:44
So this is the exact saddle that they launched.
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The reason for this off-white sort of lime green color of the 3D printed cushion
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is at the time, this was the only color they had.
15:00
But I still think it's nice and contrasting. I like it. Yeah,
15:03
it's different. Because now I think it's all black.
15:06
Everything's black, yeah. I mean, this could potentially get very,
15:10
very dirty very quickly if you're an off-road rider or if you ride in the rain and the dirt.
15:15
But yeah, this is something I've kept just because it's one of those historic
15:21
pieces that we're always going to go back to.
15:23
So pretty light too, 150 grams for the saddle.
15:27
And yeah, the performance is really, really good and we can get into that now.
15:31
So with your 3D printed saddles, they skip the traditional manufacturing process
15:38
of the EPS foam or cushion or padding, whatever you want to call that.
15:43
And this has helped speed up the development process. So making a 3D printed
15:48
saddle is roughly five times faster than what you get on your traditional saddles.
15:54
Those saddles are still being used ad nauseum today. I mean,
15:59
you won't often find a 3D-printed saddle, although they are readily available.
16:05
All your consumer bikes come with your traditional padding.
16:08
Since the launch of the Fizik 3D saddles, we've had other brands come on board.
16:16
Psele Italia, Seles & Marco, Specialize, been among those brands,
16:22
expanding their range by offering these 3D-printed solutions.
16:25
So the 3D printed, if we're looking at the build, the 3D printed padding is
16:32
usually deeper and softer than your traditional gel-based saddle.
16:37
And that's obviously to bring the weight down.
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And to get a little bit more detailed in terms of the structure.
16:44
So it's an additive process where the 3D printer sort of builds up layer upon layer.
16:51
And this allows the manufacturing process to vary the thickness of each layer.
16:57
So you can get what they call zonal cushioning built in within these structures.
17:02
This cushion is called a 3D lattice.
17:06
So that's the terminology that they use for this. It's a three-dimensional shape
17:11
made with hexagonal-shaped polymers. That's according to the press release.
17:18
And it's printed separately from the base of the saddle itself, and it's glued on.
17:25
Traditional saddles require a mold for the padded section and the rails.
17:30
And each time the designers want to change that shape, they have to make a new
17:35
mold. and that becomes very tiresome, very expensive.
17:39
I mean, it usually isn't viable for those companies because it becomes a niche product.
17:45
Whereas now it's more easier for them to print these shapes in various sort of zonal cushioning.
17:54
And it's kind of improved the way the cushioning and the shock absorption work.
18:01
So if we look at the benefits of these saddles, they can
18:04
as we've just said they can provide more comfort thanks to
18:07
the mechanical properties and materials used i think this includes better vibration
18:12
dampening and pressure absorption and of course with this kind of technology
18:18
comes pricing and these are some of the most expensive saddles you can get on the market.
18:27
They do complement your high-end builds. It's just something about the way these
18:31
saddles look that adds another sort of tactile element to your bike.
18:35
It's something a lot of riders use as a status symbol too because it's something pricey.
18:42
It's something quite intricate and a status symbol really. But they do really work.
18:48
So Fizik also offers one-to-one custom saddle programs. So this saddle and a
18:56
couple of the others, which I'll show just now, are generic 3D printed cushions.
19:03
They are a lot more forgiving than your traditional sort of gel saddles.
19:08
So it's a lot firmer at the top and they gradually get a little softer as you
19:14
go down towards the sides.
19:16
Right but with the physique one-to-one
19:19
custom saddle program you can actually
19:22
have this 3d printed lattice tailored to your pressure mapping so you get a
19:29
custom the ones that they send that like a form kind of and you sit you sit
19:34
on that it does a pressure 3d pressure mapping blueprint of your rear end,
19:41
and then they use that to build the 3D printed lattice or cushion for your sit
19:49
bones and your pressure points, which is really, really good.
19:52
The other ones I've got here to show, this is the Specialized S-Works Power with Mirror.
19:59
I have that one. It's a really good saddle. I really like it.
20:03
This was one of the first saddles that was produced with the black 3D printed structure.
20:10
All these saddles, interestingly, are made by the same company or produced or
20:15
manufactured by a company called Carbon in the USA. I think they're based in California.
20:21
They also do Selle Italia and Selle San Marco.
20:25
So they all come from the same manufacturing facility
20:30
but they differ in terms of
20:33
the in terms of the design the visuals and
20:37
obviously to fit in with within the the various companies design ethos this
20:43
one here is the slightly more affordable version of this one i showed earlier
20:48
so it's exactly the same in terms of the shape it's a black one which looks
20:52
quite nice but this This one is called, also a bit of a mouthful,
20:56
Fizik Antares versus Evo R3 Adaptive.
20:59
So it doesn't have the carbon shell like this one does, and it doesn't have
21:04
the carbon rails either.
21:06
This has your normal alloy rail, and this is more of a fiberglass composite thing.
21:14
Construction it's it's a lot cheaper but still
21:17
you're still going to be forking out quite a lot
21:20
so something something like this which is your entry level 3d
21:23
printed saddle by physique it's around 250 pounds
21:26
and if you want to go yeah it's not
21:29
bad i mean you you know it's you got
21:32
to look after your touch points i think we i think we did
21:35
discuss this last time yeah you know it's very
21:38
important that your hands your feet and your
21:41
rear area are well sorted because
21:44
those are the only areas in contact with the bike and if
21:47
if you're uncomfortable in those areas you're not going to go very far
21:50
so it is worth investing in something that works
21:52
for you but but still at the same time you do
21:56
need to look at the various sizes of
21:59
of the saddle too it's easy just to go to
22:02
go to your your bicycling shop see one
22:06
of these on the shelf think oh this looks great this
22:09
i've heard these are very comfortable i'm just going to buy it you need to do
22:12
your research you need to check the the width of your sit bones you need to
22:15
see if a long nose saddle is going to suit you if a short nose saddle is going
22:20
to shoot you or if you need to go wider or more narrow everyone is different
22:25
so before before you even consider if you want to go for the generic off the
22:30
shaft 3D printed saddle,
22:31
do yourself a favor, go into a bike shop, particularly one that specializes in bike fitting.
22:38
See if you can get your pressure mapping done. They will advise the size saddle
22:42
that you need, and then you can go and get one of these.
22:45
But if you want to go one step further and you want to have the full experience
22:49
and you have the money to spend and you would see it as an investment.
22:54
I would look at doing one of the Physique one-to-one custom saddle mapping programs
22:58
and just go one step further and just look after things from there.
23:03
But these two saddles here, the
23:07
specialized in the top of the range physique with full
23:10
carbon platform structure and
23:13
rails they're around 350 pounds so
23:17
i presume that's about 380 euros around
23:21
there maybe 400 400 dollars so it's it's
23:24
a bit of an investment but if you
23:28
are a die-hard cyclist you're looking
23:30
for that extra layer of comfort you're looking
23:33
for something that's possibly slightly lighter or
23:36
something that's going to improve the way you perform on
23:39
the bike and the way you feel on the bike one of the first upgrades
23:43
i would make in terms of ergonomics is is
23:47
getting a saddle and it doesn't have to be a 3d printed one
23:49
either the the regular gel based foam foam
23:52
saddles are just as good and they are
23:55
available in these shapes as well yeah i couldn't
23:58
agree more i think comfort is key like you said you
24:02
can go much far you know much further or go anywhere
24:05
if you're not comfortable for me when i moved to the 3d printed
24:09
saddle it made total difference i feel much more comfortable and also the right
24:14
size you're absolutely right i i didn't even know and when my back fit was like
24:20
you should just try a 165 yeah 165 i was riding 155 and it did make a much a big difference.
24:29
I don't have the saddle source that I used to have on long rides and.
24:35
For the absorption of the… Corrugations and bumps.
24:41
Yeah, exactly. Especially because I do mainly gravel.
24:45
Do you think there are more benefits
24:48
if you're riding gravel or road or mountain bike to have a 3D print?
24:55
Or now anyone, I mean, everybody will be in contact.
24:59
So it makes no difference? Yeah, I think it can be used across all disciplines.
25:05
But even if we look, I mean, for example, if we look to the World to a Pro Peloton,
25:11
you probably find more traditional gel-based foam saddles than the 3D printed ones.
25:17
That could just be a personal thing. Some of these riders grew up riding those
25:24
saddles and they don't want to change.
25:26
They're quite stubborn. Pro cyclists are quite stubborn and they like to stay
25:29
with what they know, what they've come to know.
25:31
I have seen a lot more off-road riders employ these saddles because they do
25:35
provide an extra layer of shock absorption and cushioning and comfort because
25:40
obviously you're going to be going through various kinds of terrain.
25:45
Gravel is not just gravel. It changes depending on where you are and what part
25:50
of the region you're in. It's going to become sandy.
25:52
The gravel's possibly going to come corrugated. You're going to get areas with
25:56
lots of rocks and choppy sections. you're not going to get your traditional
26:00
halo champagne gravel roads.
26:03
I wish. Yeah, yeah. So, yes, I mean, just….
26:08
Concluding on these 3D-printed saddles,
26:12
essentially what you're getting is a saddle that has far more zonal areas that
26:21
have been tailored to your various ways you sit on the saddle.
26:26
So your traditional gel saddle there, it's the same density.
26:31
Keep calling it gel foam. Traditional foam saddle, it's the same density throughout.
26:36
It's not going to change on the sides or on the top
26:38
with your 3d printed cushioning those
26:43
areas have been sort of the zones have been mapped
26:45
so it's going to be firmer on top and it gradually
26:48
gets softer with more give on the sides and that's
26:51
that's that's what you want i mean everyone who's
26:55
had a saddle saw will know those hard
26:58
areas on the side of the saddle can really do really do
27:01
damage so yeah it's i would say for for off-road riders it's probably more of
27:07
an investment than for someone on the road because if you are doing road racing
27:11
you're looking at i mean if it's a long road race max three to four hours or
27:16
if you're doing some of these crazy.
27:18
Gravel events or marathon mountain bike events even
27:22
something like the cape epic it's if you in
27:25
the in the mid pack you're looking at six seven hours and you
27:28
want something that's going to be going to be good on
27:31
your sit bones yeah yeah for me it's
27:35
worth every penny of the investment and maybe the next step
27:38
would be the personalized one yep that's
27:42
going to be that's going to add another another layer of pricing yep so yeah
27:49
i think i think this this dovetails nicely with with the cape epic because from
27:54
from i mean we've been chatting about off-road now the saddles and long days in the saddle.
28:00
And I think with this year's Cape Epic, it proved one of the most toughest in recent history.
28:08
There's always something, there's always a curveball when it comes to the Cape
28:12
Epic, whether that's heat, rain, mud, there's always going to be something.
28:18
They got it all. They got it all this year. Yeah, they got absolutely everything.
28:22
It's very, very rare that you get a smooth sailing cape
28:25
epic where each stage is as planned and
28:29
i think with this one in particular while it
28:32
was shorter if you can if you can say that i mean the organizers had to stop
28:38
and and shorten stage three due to extreme heat and that was in consultation
28:43
with the race director the medical director and the local authorities just to put that in context and.
28:50
In the Western Cape, where the Cape Epic is run, the temperatures vary greatly
28:59
depending on where you are.
29:01
So you've got areas in the vineyards and the wine farms that get very hot and humid.
29:06
Then if you go into the mountains, you get a different type of heat.
29:10
And this particular stage was held in the Powell area, which also is close to
29:16
nearby wine farms. So you've got that humidity paired with the granite rock
29:21
formation around the Pearl Valley.
29:24
I had some friends doing the race.
29:27
I also know a lot of people who still work at the race. And I had a guy on the
29:30
ground taking photos for me in the race village for tech galleries and bike checks.
29:35
He said to me, the temperature topped out at 52 degrees Celsius,
29:41
which is absolutely insane.
29:45
The Cape Epic that I did in 2017, one of the stages was stopped when it hit
29:51
48 degrees. It was shortened.
29:53
So just to show you that that's gone up four degrees. Four degrees,
29:57
that's a lot. I don't even want to know how hot that was, but I think they made the right call.
30:02
Absolutely. Otherwise, you're putting others in danger, you know,
30:05
your health. Yeah, and I think there were a lot of hospitalizations.
30:10
They didn't just shorten that route. They actually stopped it for the safety.
30:14
Of the riders and those riders that were stopped, their race wasn't affected.
30:19
They were allowed to start the next day.
30:22
And obviously the weather changed again and temperature dropped.
30:26
There was some rain, there was mud, and that carried on for the next few days.
30:31
Going into stage seven, the final stage, which was shortened to 40 kilometers
30:36
due to rain and a dangerous descent. So it just shows you, you cannot stop.
30:41
People have asked me about the Cape Epic and what to expect,
30:44
and I always tell them you cannot prepare for it.
30:47
You can't. You can even have the best tires and the best equipment,
30:51
and there's always something that is going to catch you out.
30:55
It's part of the race. You just need to get to grips with it,
30:59
and you need to go into that race knowing that something like that can happen,
31:04
and there's a possibility you aren't going to finish.
31:06
Unfortunately, that's how it is. It's not called the toughest mountain bike
31:11
race on earth for nothing.
31:13
But if we look at how the race unfolded, I wouldn't say there were any surprises in terms of who won.
31:20
Nino Schurz obviously had unfinished business.
31:24
He had won it two times before with different partners.
31:28
And he had experimented a lot after the last time he won it with Lars Forster.
31:33
So he's almost become known as a partner killer.
31:38
At the Cape Epic because you can keep up with Nino for possibly three or four
31:43
days and then you absolutely poked.
31:45
But I think his combination with Filippo Colombo was really, really good.
31:50
I think we saw Filippo suffering a bit in the latter stages,
31:53
but that is going to happen.
31:55
We don't know what's going on with him personally and his health,
31:58
but they did really, really well.
32:01
And they were given a good run for their money by the Willie Vittoria combination
32:06
of Luca Brido and Simone Avondetto.
32:09
They did really well, and I was actually rooting for them. I like how many… Me too, me too.
32:14
Like the underdogs, and they're really, really strong. I mean,
32:18
they won the prologue. They won, I think, was stage two or three.
32:22
So they really made it a tough race for Nino and Filippo.
32:27
And it was only, I think, in the end, it was Nino and Filippo won by one and
32:32
a half minutes. So anything could have happened.
32:35
I mean, if they had punctured or something had happened on that last stage,
32:38
they could have lost it very, very quickly.
32:40
That's true. And then one of the highlights personally for me in the Cape Epic was the third place.
32:47
The third place Dio of Marco, Jebe and Tristan Okia, who are South Africans.
32:52
It's the first South African pairing to finish on the podium.
32:55
That was exciting. It's nice. You know, it's in South Africa.
32:58
So just to have the South African flag representing on the podium was very special.
33:05
Exactly. And it was Marco's second podium, or not second podium, second stage win.
33:11
Him and Tristan actually won one of the stages, and Marco had won it a few years
33:15
ago with his previous partner, Vessel Buota.
33:20
So, yeah, it's really good. I like the way they raced that.
33:24
They animated it and made it really, really exciting for everyone back home.
33:29
Big disappointment is probably the Matt Beers and Keegan Swenson pairing.
33:33
Yeah, I was going to ask you what you thought.
33:36
I thought that they were in with a good, before coming into the race,
33:41
I thought that they were in with a good shot of winning it just because they're
33:46
good friends. Keegan is an absolute beast.
33:50
And I was really shocked at the way his body responded to that race.
33:54
That didn't reflect his ability at all.
33:56
You could see something was wrong. I think he had issues with his back.
33:59
And if you've got back problems, it's a race like the Cape Epic.
34:03
It's a race that uses your core a lot. There's a lot of core work involved.
34:07
And he was obviously suffering.
34:10
And I like the way he rode with Matt still.
34:13
I mean, Matt was motivating him and helping him. And they're finished with the
34:17
third place on the final day on stage seven, which shows what they're capable
34:21
of. But I don't think we've seen the last of them.
34:23
Yeah, I hope that they go back. Yeah, I think Keegan knows. I mean,
34:27
it's his second epic. He did it with Lachlan Morton before.
34:30
So I think he knows what's coming. And perhaps if Keegan arrives maybe three
34:35
or four weeks earlier and just gets maybe a little bit more climatized to the
34:40
heat and what's on offer.
34:42
And we need also remember Keegan's an endurance machine. he
34:45
can ride really hard and and and for
34:47
long periods of time we're talking six seven hours that's where
34:50
he comes into his own whereas matt is matt is
34:54
just a really he's he's a powerhouse he's he's a bit of
34:56
a he's yeah he's a he's a machine he he can ride
35:00
short cross-country style races he can ride unbound gravel and average over
35:06
300 watts for seven hours he's that type of he's that type of rider you know
35:09
but if if they had done well and you know in an ideal situation They had won
35:15
and Matt defended his title.
35:17
He'd be the only rider that has won the Cape Epic with four different partners.
35:22
And that just says a lot about Matt and how he is as a rider.
35:25
But we're going to hear a lot more about them now in the Lifetime Grand Prix coming up.
35:30
I think most of the riders are congregating in the US at the moment,
35:35
getting ready for the Seattle Classic.
35:37
But I think we should also touch on the women's race. Absolutely.
35:41
I was blown away by Annika Langfall. I had no idea that she had her baby with her at the event.
35:51
Insane. So happy to see that. And she was breastfeeding after each stage. That is unreal.
35:59
And to think that she still has the power and the ability to stay up front there.
36:04
I think she had a really good pairing with Sofia Gomez-Vilofani.
36:09
They both complemented each other.
36:12
And I think it's going to be a different story next year if Annika carries on
36:16
with this and she's come out of retirement, so to speak.
36:21
We're going to see the full strength Annika next year. And we're probably going
36:24
to see a much, much bigger gap than what we saw at the second place.
36:28
I think it was just under 22 minutes, which is still massive.
36:32
But I think we'll probably see over an hour next year. And they had mechanicals and everything.
36:38
Yeah, and she had a couple of bad days. and Annika said that Sophia is the first
36:42
rider that's ever put a hand on her back and pushed her up a climb. Yeah, I saw that.
36:48
So she must have had a really, really, really bad day but still unbelievably
36:51
strong to come back like that,
36:54
especially just being fresh from giving birth and crammed in some training to
37:00
go win the Cape Epic for a record, I think, six times.
37:04
So she is the most successful Cape Epic racer of all time,
37:08
which is really really good really mind-blowing her
37:12
performance and especially like you said given that she
37:15
was there with her baby and breastfeeding i mean just
37:19
to complete the race i think would be an accomplishment but she
37:22
blew it out of the water and won with her partner
37:25
sofia is yeah incredible incredible performance yeah and teamwork teamwork you
37:31
could see the two of them yeah worked well together i think that got on really
37:35
well and there was a lot of respect there you often find with the riders there's
37:39
a bit of ego and they're trying to kind of i wouldn't say,
37:44
hurt each other but they're trying to sort of work out
37:47
who's the he's the alpha and who isn't you know so but i think there's a lot
37:51
of respect there between them and it showed because they knew exactly what they
37:55
needed to do and they executed the race with the resource limited resources
37:59
they had which is really good i mean we're looking at the second place team
38:03
of the Efficient Infinity SCB SRAM.
38:06
Vera Lusa of Namibia, she's a former winner.
38:09
She won the race, I think it was.
38:12
Was it two years ago? Yes, it was two years ago with Kim LaCorte,
38:16
who's now racing Women's World Tour.
38:19
So Vera and Alexis Gard of the US, they finished 21 and a half minutes behind Anika and Sophia.
38:26
And then another South African, all South African team came third,
38:31
Bianca Horn, Heidi Preen of the Titan Racing SE Honeycomb.
38:35
So it was really nice to see that too.
38:37
I do feel, and I'm going to be honest here, the fields
38:41
in both the men and the women are not as strong as they've
38:44
been in previous years and that's
38:47
because of the the start of the cross-country mountain bike
38:50
world cup in brazil it's starting a lot earlier than
38:53
it used to in the past and the
38:56
race does not provide cross-country racing
38:59
points anymore because it's now an official marathon race
39:03
before you'd see you'd see riders
39:05
like nino sure to race in his world championship jersey
39:09
and then the marathon world champion couldn't use
39:11
his jersey in the race but they've changed that so so
39:15
for cross-country races not not having those points available to them it's probably
39:19
giving them second thoughts and then also having a race such as this which takes
39:24
so much out of the body so much out of the mind and the legs before the start
39:28
of the world cup which is high intensity short racing it's obviously wasn't in the plan for many.
39:35
Of the riders so hopefully in the
39:38
coming years that that changes and we can get sort of
39:41
full strength teams back but still i mean the the
39:44
quality of the athletes we had this year was really really good
39:46
but i just like to see a little bit more depth i hear
39:50
you yeah yeah just staying with
39:53
i thought a nice segue into into our
39:57
chat on tires which was the cape epic because
40:00
the cape epic has ruined so
40:03
many teams opportunities because because
40:08
of tire choice how so you can't
40:12
go into the cape epic or any marathon
40:15
stage race with lightweight cross-country
40:20
tires or tires with lightweight
40:24
or thin sidewalls smaller
40:28
volume things have changed a lot i mean if we look back even
40:31
10 years or let's look back 2013 right mountain
40:36
bikes in their entirety were completely different you had
40:39
bikes with 71 degree head angles now you
40:42
know you they're in the in the low 60s the the geometry of the bikes were super
40:46
aggressive they were on 26 inch wheels for starters which was which was absolutely
40:52
crazy and the tire your maximum tire width back then was probably 1.9 to 2 inches.
41:01
Which is not big at all if you look at what's happening now.
41:06
I think when mountain bike tires were.
41:12
When mountain biking moved to the 29er and tires started getting wider and we saw 2.1s, 2.25,
41:22
there was a lot of pushback because it was like, these are really too wide.
41:27
They're going to slow me down.
41:28
What's the purpose? What's the point of this?
41:31
And now we're seeing 2.3, 2.35, 2.4.
41:36
We haven't seen 2.6, which is massive.
41:42
It's gargantuan I don't know if I have 2.6 here
41:45
with me I've already got 2.4 this is
41:48
this is a Victoria Mescal cross-country race
41:51
tire 2.4 it's a beautiful tire that's already big yeah it is beautiful 2.4 is
41:58
just it's gargantuan I've recently been testing a mountain bike from an Icelandic
42:06
brand called Lauff it's the Lauff Alia it's quite a it's got a quite a polarizing.
42:12
Appearance but foregoes traditional chain stays
42:15
for this weird i can share a picture afterwards for
42:18
this strange leaf spring crazy design rear
42:21
end this this came fully spec'd
42:25
with with rock shocks flight attendant and 2.6 inch tires i was i was blown
42:30
away i was how how is this how am i going to ride this thing and the it's 11
42:37
kilograms so it's not not heavy i mean for what it is it's It's a really, really light bike.
42:41
And the first ride I did on this, I could not believe how well this machine works.
42:47
Road. I thought that the wider tires were going to hold me back on the flats. It didn't.
42:55
And when I got into the twisties and the single track, I was faster than I've ever been before.
43:01
A lot of this obviously comes, you can't just have a fat wide tire.
43:06
You need to have a rim that can accommodate it. So what's happened is that your
43:11
internal rim widths have got wider. Yeah.
43:15
Meaning that they can... It sits even wider, right?
43:18
Yes, yes. So the tire doesn't light bulb over the rim. There's a lot more volume
43:23
and you're using more of the tire.
43:26
The rhetoric behind this is that you can, as we touched on in the last episode,
43:32
you can drop your tire pressure significantly.
43:36
The sidewalls are exceptionally strong. The casing is exceptionally strong.
43:40
And you can actually better use the entire tire. how it's supposed to work.
43:45
Gone are the days when people were pumping them up to two bar on a mountain bike.
43:51
Now you can go really, really low. I mean, think if we're going to PSI or bar,
43:57
bar maybe one bar or less on something on a 2.6 and you're looking 20 PSI or less,
44:07
which is super, super soft. It sounds illogical.
44:10
It doesn't sound like going wider.
44:14
Going maybe slightly heavier and then reducing the
44:17
tire pressure it sounds like okay it's going to be holding
44:20
you back but it's not so particularly on
44:25
corrugated roads or off-roads gravel
44:29
sections you're going to get the lower tire pressure is going to act as
44:32
a extra level of suspension it's going to conform to
44:35
the ground you're actually not going to skip over the
44:37
surface you're going to go faster working with
44:40
the full suspension of that mountain bike and then you
44:43
when you start going into the single track or steep
44:46
descents you can use the full breadth of that width of
44:49
tire and the way the tread pattern works because now the the
44:52
shoulder knobs are almost on the sidewall now so you can
44:55
really trust the front end let the bike do what
44:58
it's designed to do and not overthink things in the
45:01
past i think we were using narrower mountain bike tires
45:04
the pressure was really hard i think there was a there
45:07
was a lack of understanding on how all the components worked
45:10
people are putting a lot more resource and
45:15
preparation into how they set up
45:18
their suspension understanding what suspension is your suspension essentially
45:22
just keeps your wheels on the ground without that you're going to be hopping
45:25
around on the surface so setting up your suspension right understanding what
45:29
geometry works for you as we said looking at the way you fit on your saddle
45:34
your weight distribution across both wheels and.
45:37
That's the way that bikes are getting faster. A 9kg hardtail mountain bike is
45:44
not going to be faster than an 11kg full suspension mountain bike even with 2.6 inch tires.
45:51
Maybe in that one scenario where there's a really smooth 1km steep climb,
45:57
the hardtail might be able to
45:59
get past because it's lighter and you can potentially put more power down.
46:03
But if that terrain becomes choppy and variable and loose, you want to have
46:08
the purchase and the biggest contact point you can on the ground.
46:13
So the theme we've seen, and this is across the board, wider is not just better, wider is faster.
46:21
We're seeing that on road too. So also, we look in 10, 15 years ago.
46:27
I mean, when I started riding in 2013, I think I was using 23C tires.
46:33
The tires are so, so, so skinny. It was crazy. I've spoken to friends of mine
46:38
who started riding before me. They were using 19Z.
46:41
I mean, I don't even want to know how thin that is and what the ride quality
46:45
was like. And sometimes when you go to the Alps, I mean, there's a lot of like….
46:48
Older generation they're still riding
46:52
the super skinny at a hundred like
46:54
120 yeah 120 psi eight bar
46:57
yeah it doesn't make it doesn't make any sense and i remember when when 25c
47:03
was launched and that was considered wide and my bike at the time which was
47:08
2014 canadale super 6 evo 2 i couldn't i couldn't accommodate a 25c at the back
47:14
it was actually touching i was touching the,
47:18
chainstay so things have changed yeah it
47:20
actually fitted the tire fitted but if i got out the saddle to
47:24
climb there was flex in the wheel and it was rubbing up
47:27
yeah if you get a lot of mud or something a little
47:29
rock then it's history yeah and then
47:33
we moved to 28c and then we moved to 28c tubeless
47:37
and things have really really that that that kind of was the turning point so
47:41
tubeless and disc brakes i think was the turning point in road cycling so now
47:46
the wheel wasn't the braking surface so they were using a disc brake now which
47:52
meant that they could now,
47:54
advance the engineering principles on the wheels themselves so wheels could
47:59
also now become wider and with a wider wheel with a wider internal profile you
48:05
could fit a wider tire and utilize,
48:07
the full breadth of that surface area.
48:11
So then we move to the 28C tubeless. I still think it's the way to go, even for road.
48:18
You know, there's a lot of pushback with the diehard traditionalists saying
48:23
that, but what happens if tubeless goes wrong?
48:25
The same way as if you puncture with your tubes. I just put a tube in.
48:29
I just put a tube in, just like you.
48:31
That's what will happen when it goes wrong. yeah but it has to be it has to
48:35
go so wrong for us to put a tube in a tubeless you have oh my god no I'm.
48:41
Plugs. The plugs. You can go plugs. There are few resources before you have to go. There are, yes.
48:48
And put a tube in. Yeah, we all carry tubes around in case you do need to use it.
48:54
Yeah. And if you find the right sealant that works for the pressure you're using
48:58
and perhaps the conditions you live in, I'm often riding and I feel a bit of
49:04
spray on my leg or whatever.
49:06
And, you know, I've got a punch and it seals and it's fine. I think the way forward is tubeless.
49:11
The issue, I think, comes in with if the tire is hookless compatible.
49:17
I think we've seen blow-offs because people are using much harder tire pressure
49:21
than they should on a hookless rim.
49:22
And then the tire blows off. So you've just got to do your homework.
49:27
Don't be stupid about this. Do your homework.
49:30
Understand the wheel interface, what hookless tires are, what hookless wheels
49:35
are, and how they all work.
49:39
That's the best advice I can give. and you're only going to get the full potential
49:44
of that tire if you use lower pressures.
49:49
So you can use an inner tube or a tubalito or one of those Piretti TPU tubes
49:55
with a really nice tire and you're going to get good performance on the perfect road, yes.
50:01
But the moment that road starts moving into a broken road scenario,
50:07
you're going to feel that skimming across the surface that I've spoken about.
50:11
And that's possibly where you can even go wider.
50:14
So there's a lot of research pointing towards 30mm and 32mm road tires.
50:20
I think that's pretty wide in my opinion.
50:24
Happy medium for me is 28C. I like 28C. It works.
50:29
I've tried 30C before. It doesn't feel slow at all, particularly the roads around where I live.
50:35
In Surrey Eels, where I live, the roads are pretty good, but in some of the
50:38
neighboring counties like Hampshire, or even if you go quite north,
50:43
roads are quite broken, quite harsh and gritty.
50:46
You potentially go and use a 30mm, maybe even a 32mm tire there could work.
50:53
I know that many manufacturers, I was actually speaking to John Heisman of Vittoria,
50:59
Earlier today, I met with him
51:01
earlier, and he said they're developing 35mm and 40mm tires now for road.
51:08
Obviously, that's not for road racing. That's where people need to sort of understand
51:13
that that is for people who live in particular areas where the conditions are
51:19
conducive to that with tire.
51:21
So if you're in an area that has a lot of broken roads, forestry roads,
51:27
you want to mix your tarmac with a bit of gravel, maybe there's a bit of cobbles,
51:32
then probably go into a 35, maybe even a 40.
51:35
I think that's a bit too wide for a road, to be honest, but that's probably
51:38
going to suit your riding.
51:40
You're probably a fit rider, but you're not racing. You can't go pitch up at
51:44
a criterium on 40 millimeter tires.
51:46
It's not going to work. We need to put these things into context here.
51:50
But we will see 30 to 32 in the pro peloton.
51:55
I think there's get to a point where there's a trade-off between comfort and aerodynamics.
52:01
And I think 30 to 32 is probably the top end of that before you start suffering aerodynamics.
52:09
But for me, and I think there's still quite a few pros out there,
52:13
I hope, that are using 28mm. It works well. We haven't seen that even on the time trial scene.
52:21
29 millimeter 30 millimeter tires
52:25
which is absolutely nuts there's i was just
52:28
sent these this is not sponsored by vittoria by
52:31
the way these are just the tires i use for my time trial it's the
52:34
course of pro speeds which are now available in 29 29c
52:39
actually can't fit on my time trial bike the
52:42
max tire clearance i've got at the rear is 20 28c so
52:46
i'm using the 28c at the back but i can use i
52:49
can use that on front because the tire clearance is a lot better on the front and
52:52
that that's proved to be faster not not from
52:55
a i wouldn't say from an aerodynamic point of view because you'll have to quantify
53:01
that in a wind tunnel and we know on on the best of times a wind tunnel wind
53:06
tunnel data can change you know from day to day so really it depends on the
53:12
calibration of things and how things work.
53:14
So many variables.
53:17
It's crazy. So many variables. So I would say just as we were discussing on
53:21
the off-road side of things with tires, your wider tire, even on a time trial,
53:27
is going to come down to the road surface again.
53:30
So I will, for my time trialing, I will use a narrower tire,
53:36
say 28C, or even a 25C up front, if it's a perfectly smooth road.
53:43
Probably a track like goodwood or thruxton
53:46
where it's a closed circuit time trial so i can get the
53:49
best aerodynamic performance and obviously
53:52
the best the best performance in terms of
53:54
power transfer i would go with the narrower tire
53:57
but if i'm going to be doing a time trial which they call a
54:00
like a sporting time trial yeah which is could be through a
54:03
nature reserve or even something on a motorway that
54:07
has a rougher road surface with more grit or whatever i'm going to go for the
54:12
the the wider tire because then I can play with the tire pressures which means
54:15
I can put the power down so that that is the reoccurring theme here is using
54:21
the wider tire so that you can put your power down.
54:26
Because if we go back to that 19c road bike wheel at 8 bar or 120, 130 psi,
54:36
on the wrong road surface, that's going to be sort of skimming across the surface.
54:42
You're not going to be putting down any power. It's going to be wheel spinning.
54:46
It's going to be jumping.
54:48
Back then, harder and thinner was thought to be faster.
54:52
Now we know we've got the research that
54:56
proves wider and lower pressure is faster and that goes across the spectrum
55:03
even on gravel what we're seeing now I mean when gravel first became a thing
55:11
we were seeing we were seeing tires that were under.
55:17
40mm in width I think there were 30mm you know I mean you You still get 32 millimeters
55:25
today, and some bikes have been specced with that.
55:27
But now we're getting tires all the way up to 50 millimeters.
55:31
And what do you think of, since we switched to gravel now, of inserts on the wider tires?
55:39
Yes. I was actually chatting to John at Vittoria about this because I'm looking
55:46
at various options for gravel burn.
55:48
Because that's 850 kilometers, seven stages, and it's going through very diverse
55:56
remote areas where the terrain is going to change.
55:59
So I'm wondering, a tire that could suit stage one might not suit stage two
56:05
or three or four, et cetera.
56:07
But I've looked at some options and I'm going to be going for a tire.
56:12
I'm still testing this combination, so I'm not going to mention the tire yet,
56:16
but I'm going with something that has...
56:19
An open tread in the middle with shoulder knobs on the side.
56:24
So it's going to be fast rolling, but still giving me that grip in the corner
56:28
because the Western Cape region and South Africa, some of the gravel roads are
56:33
notorious for sand in the corners.
56:37
Obviously, the trucks that go through and the farm vehicles that go through
56:40
on these gravel roads are churning those roads up, sand moves to the side.
56:44
It's going to be very corrugated and that's where
56:47
the tire insert's coming so the tire insert on the gravel
56:50
bike will not just be for puncture
56:53
protection because it will essentially work as a
56:56
as a run flat if you did puncture and you couldn't fix it you could
56:58
potentially finish the stage last 10 last 20 kilometers on the flat tire because
57:04
that insert is going to act like a bit of volume a bit of air volume what that
57:08
insert is actually going to do is take a bit of the edge off in terms of compliancy
57:13
so it will act as another layer So you've got your low tire pressure,
57:17
then you've got your tire insert, which will act with even more cushioning.
57:20
So it should potentially reduce your fatigue cumulatively.
57:24
So you might not feel what it's doing on stage one, but by stage six or seven,
57:30
you've actually saved your body, your lower back, your joints, et cetera.
57:35
So I'm going to be experimenting with a certain gravel tire and tire inserts in the next few months.
57:43
And that's going to be paired on the race bike that I've just been sent,
57:50
which is going to form a long-term test.
57:52
It's the Cannondale Lab 71 Super X, which is very, very similar to my road bike,
58:01
which is the Lab 71 Super 6.
58:04
So the geometry is similar. It's got a slightly steeper head angle.
58:08
The bottom bracket drop is slightly higher.
58:11
It's got shorter shorter chain stays it
58:15
rides similar similar to
58:18
the to the the super six but the riding position
58:21
is a little bit more a little bit more upright but it's
58:25
not much of a change i opted for that i mean i
58:28
i was i just wanted a super x i wasn't too phased on what model it was just
58:33
because i didn't want to didn't want to drastically change my position on on
58:37
the bike I didn't want to go to a different brand that I wasn't familiar with
58:42
and have to adjust and get used to the way the bike performs.
58:47
But it comes with a SRAM Red Axis, 13-speed, so that Explorer mix,
58:53
42 chainring up front, 10, 42 at the back.
58:58
There's a large spread of gearing, very similar touch points to what I got on
59:02
my road bike, same handlebar configuration.
59:05
Everything feels identical, which is good. So I'm going to be trialing...
59:12
The tires and the inserts with the reserve
59:15
wheels that come fitted on that bike the tire size i'm going for
59:18
is 47 millimeters so i've been advised by
59:22
by neil gardner at gravel burn who's
59:25
the marketing manager slash director there that
59:27
he reckons the sweet spot is anything between 45 and 50 millimeters for for
59:32
gravel burn 45 if if i'm talking from like my gut feel 45 is too narrow for
59:39
that race 50 i think is too big that's that's a that's a fat tire i mean 50 is essentially.
59:46
I had it written down i think a 50 millimeter tire is
59:49
essentially a suck a two a 2.1
59:53
and it's a 2.1 inch tire which
59:56
is like a mountain bike 29 inch mountain bike you
59:59
know so i thought that's a bit too wide 47 i
1:00:03
think is more of a happy medium i'm going
1:00:05
to be experimenting with that riding it on tar and on
1:00:09
bits of gravel there isn't wouldn't call the gravel in
1:00:13
the uk is not gravel i i apologize
1:00:16
to any of the uk listeners and viewers
1:00:18
i know you might think it's gravel but it's not that's just
1:00:21
dirt you guys ride on dirt and bridleways
1:00:26
and public footpaths it's not it's not gravel it's off-road
1:00:29
it's sand sand and and grit if you want to call that gravel it's uk gravel so
1:00:34
i my training for gravel burn is going to be around doing long distances because
1:00:42
it's not going to be technical there's no single track or crazy things it's just long.
1:00:48
Hard steep climbing district road with
1:00:51
corrugations some nice fast sections for 850 kilometers so i just need to get
1:00:56
familiar with the bike and i'm going to be testing i'm going to be testing the
1:01:00
tires on on tarmac entering a few low-key gravel races here just to experiment with things i'm not.
1:01:09
Going to go for any finishing positions it's all
1:01:12
about experimentation and getting the right the right balance
1:01:15
and mix so that i'm prepared i know the bike the bike
1:01:18
runs because the terrain here is very different to the
1:01:20
terrain there so if you're going to be be riding like
1:01:23
if i do stone circle which is a gravel race
1:01:27
around the stone hinge area yeah are
1:01:30
you doing it yeah i'm excited yeah yeah around
1:01:33
salisbury plain i think there's a i think there's a hundred is there
1:01:36
103 130 kilometer option and they have the 130 i
1:01:39
think there's a shorter option i don't know how much it
1:01:42
is if 80 or 75 but i'm doing 130 so
1:01:46
i can enjoy the weekend because there is a 200 option but i think you need to
1:01:51
start at stupid o'clock in the morning and i'm not gonna do that i thought about
1:01:56
the 200 because i like doing like the top event but then i thought to myself it's kind of.
1:02:03
Sounds intuitive because there are no 200 kilometer stages at
1:02:06
gravel burn the max is true that the
1:02:09
biggest stage is 160 and the closest to the 160 is
1:02:12
130 130 option you see
1:02:16
and i've ridden in that region before the salisbury
1:02:19
plain and if it gets wet that soil
1:02:22
which is like it's like a it's like a chalk it's a
1:02:25
chalky soil with flint and that
1:02:28
just goes straight through the carcass of the tire
1:02:31
it's so sharp it cakes so firstly that soil cakes on
1:02:34
the tire then it dries and then you keep riding on
1:02:37
it and eventually all those bits and pieces go straight through and you
1:02:40
puncture i've never done a ride there during winter
1:02:43
and not punctured wow okay but
1:02:46
it is it is going to be sort of in the summer if you want to call it so it shouldn't
1:02:51
be dry and it should be especially that i'm camping as well so yes it should
1:02:57
be it should be dry and dusty and actually quite nice But it's also just what I call like a dry run.
1:03:04
I just want to go take the bike out, see how it fares in race conditions,
1:03:08
do a couple of efforts, see how I feel, and we'll take it from there.
1:03:13
But in terms of gravel burn and what I want from it, it's just a pure experience.
1:03:19
As we spoke about last time, it's not just about racing. And I think we're all
1:03:24
going to get to that point.
1:03:25
Right now, there might be listeners who it's all about the finish line. Thank you.
1:03:30
I've been there. I've done that. I still enjoy it occasionally.
1:03:34
But for me now, going back to my home country that I haven't been to in six
1:03:38
years, being able to ride and race in an area I haven't ridden before and in
1:03:44
such a remote area, I also want to just be able to enjoy the scenery on offer.
1:03:49
And at the same time, also race should that develop along the way.
1:03:53
But I'm not putting any pressure in terms of where I want to finish and perform.
1:03:57
I just want to enjoy the race and take everything in.
1:04:00
Absolutely and i love the format of stage race you know that it's like a traveling
1:04:05
group you go from a to b b to c and you're always in a different spot with the
1:04:09
same group of like-minded people i think it would be so much fun yeah and once you find those people.
1:04:16
It's strange because all the abilities you kind of
1:04:19
gravitate together and eventually you know
1:04:22
you'll start seeing people you rode with on day one and two
1:04:25
and three and four and that's how friendships are formed i've actually
1:04:28
the guy i met today from vittoria john
1:04:31
heesman i actually met him at the cape epic because we
1:04:34
both lost we both lost our partners on stage two and
1:04:37
we were riding solo with our partners and i
1:04:41
was on the start line of stage three so was
1:04:44
he and he pointed to my tires i had vittoria barzos on
1:04:47
he said to me good good tire choice
1:04:50
and i was like yeah these are really really good i really like them it's like so do
1:04:53
i it's like really why why why do you like them
1:04:56
it's like because i work for toria and we
1:04:59
rode we rode the last four stages together cool and
1:05:04
we kept in contact ever since and then
1:05:07
when i moved over to the uk i contacted him
1:05:10
and he was 20 minutes away from
1:05:12
where i lived and we've been friends ever since and it's that
1:05:15
exact same scenario where your ability and what you want from the race is going
1:05:20
to group you with like-minded individuals en route and you get life lifelong
1:05:26
friends from that like i got from john and the 2017 kpepe so it's about also
1:05:32
about the people you meet along the way it's about.
1:05:35
Everything that's happening around you the journey it's about the journey but
1:05:38
at the same time if you feeling good you can go for the finish line you know
1:05:43
yeah yeah well exciting now that you have your setup and you're going to start testing,
1:05:51
I'm curious to hear more hopefully you can review more as we get closer to the
1:05:57
yeah I'll share I'll share my findings I'll share my findings with the tires
1:06:00
I've got four different pairs that I'm going to be testing and.
1:06:04
The pair with the inserts, it works together as a system, but I'm sure the inserts
1:06:13
are compatible with other tires, too.
1:06:15
But we can touch on that a little later, and then, yeah, if there's anything
1:06:18
the listeners want us to chat on in the coming episodes, then let's just carry
1:06:24
on sending through those suggestions, and we can answer those as best we can.
1:06:30
Absolutely, yeah. let us know hit us with questions about gravel
1:06:34
burn about tires insert anything new
1:06:37
will be starting to work on the
1:06:40
episode three yeah and even if it's uh if it wants if if if there's a themed
1:06:46
episode where we just focus on one particular type of tech we can go a little
1:06:50
deeper because it was really hard to it's really hard to get into the details
1:06:55
we we're literally just skimming the surface here.
1:06:58
So it's quite difficult to pull out the important information because there's
1:07:02
so much other stuff I can chat on.
1:07:04
But I just wanted to make it simple and easy to digest.
1:07:08
And then if anyone has any further questions, we can maybe do a themed deep
1:07:12
dive on something and talk in a lot more detail on those things.
1:07:17
Yeah, let's see what comes in. And if there is a trend coming more often,
1:07:21
we should definitely do the deep dive. That would be fun.
1:07:24
Yeah, sounds good to me. Great. Well, Aaron, thank you so much once again.
1:07:29
I love this series. The listeners are loving this series.
1:07:33
So can't wait to release this one and create more.
1:07:37
Brilliant. Thank you. Always appreciate the time and always appreciate chatting to you. Likewise.
1:07:43
And that's all for today's episode. I want to thank the listeners for tuning in.
1:07:48
Your support means everything. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider
1:07:53
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1:08:00
Music.